Hiroshima and Nagasaki - the consequences of the explosion of the atomic bomb (26 photos). Who Invented the Atomic Bomb? The history of the invention and creation of the Soviet atomic bomb
Nuclear explosions
Since the time of the Trinity - the first in the history of mankind atomic bomb in 1945, nearly 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out, most of which took place in the 1960s and 1970s.
When the technology was still new, testing was frequent and revealing. But since the 1990s, efforts have been made to limit future nuclear weapons tests.
The photographs presented today are from the first 30 years of nuclear testing.
Part of the first atomic bomb Trinity, which was detonated at the test site on July 16, 1945 in Alamogordo, New Mexico. (Photo by U.S. Department of Defense):
Jumbo is a 200-ton steel tank designed to recover plutonium, which was used during the Trinity atomic bomb test. (Photo by U.S. Department of Defense):
Growing fireball and bomb blast shock Trinity: 0.025 seconds after explosion, July 16, 1945. (Photo by U.S. Department of Defense):
The fireball continues to grow, and the first nuclear mushroom in the history of mankind begins to form: 9 seconds after explosion Trinity, July 16, 1945. (Photo by U.S. Department of Defense):
Photo 1. July 25, 1946. Baker test in the Bikini Atoll lagoon, an underwater explosion at a depth of 28 meters. It was fifth nuclear explosion in history after two tests and two bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (Photo by U.S. Department of Defense):
Photo 2. Another photograph of the Baker underwater test in the Bikini Atoll lagoon on July 25, 1946. (AP Photo):
Photo 3. Another photo of the Baker underwater test. Dark spots in the foreground are ships that have been positioned near the site of the explosion to test what the atomic bomb can do to the huge ships. (AP Photo):
November 16, 1952, Enewetok Atoll. An atomic bomb was dropped by a B-36H bomber. Test power: 500 kilotons. (Photo by U.S. Department of Defense):
Greenhouse test series consisting of 4 explosions in the Pacific Ocean. This photo is from the third test in May 1951. (Photo by U.S. Department of Defense):
Animation: destruction of a building by a blast wave located at a distance of 1 kilometer 67 meters from the epicenter of the atomic explosion on March 17, 1953. The time from the 1st to the last frame is 2.3 seconds. The camera was placed in a lead sheath, 5 centimeters thick, to protect it from radiation. (Photo by U.S. Department of Defense):
Photo 1. Before the explosion. During the Upshot-Knothole Challenge to the house behind dinner table mannequins were placed to simulate the situation, March 15, 1953. (Photo by Dick Strobel | AP):
Photo 2. After the explosion.(U.S. Department of Defense):
Photo 1. Before the explosion. The same house, but this mannequin is in bed. As in previous photographs, an atomic explosion is being tested at a test site near Las Vegas, Nevada on March 15, 1953. Directly through the window, 2.5 kilometers from the house, there is a 90-meter steel tower, on which a bomb will be detonated. (Photo by Dick Strobel | AP):
Photo 2. After the explosion.(U.S. Department of Defense):
Photo 1. Before the explosion. The same house, but mannequins are sitting in the living room. (AP Photo):
Photo 2. After the explosion.(U.S. Department of Defense):
Plumbbob test at the Nevada proving ground on August 30, 1957. (Photo by Nevada Site Office):
A hydrogen bomb exploded during Operation Redwing over Bikini Atoll on May 20, 1956. (AP Photo):
The flash from the explosion of a nuclear warhead of an air-to-air missile, similar to the sun, on July 19, 1957. 20 kilometers from this place. (Photo by Nevada Site Office):
NATO observers watch the Plumbbob Boltzmann nuclear test with glasses on May 28, 1957. (Photo by Nevada Site Office):
The tail section of an unmanned airship of the United States Navy. On background- nuclear explosion at a test site in Nevada, August 7, 1957. The airship flew 8 kilometers from the test site, but collapsed from the shock wave. (Photo by Nevada Site Office):
Hardtack I - A thermonuclear explosion in the Pacific Ocean in 1958. (Photo by Nevada Site Office):
Trial of Arkansas as part of Operation Dominic. It was a series of more than 100 nuclear tests in Nevada and the Pacific in 1962. (U.S. Department of Defense):
Testing Aztec as part of Operation Dominic. It was a series of over 100 nuclear tests in Nevada and the Pacific in 1962. (U.S. Department of Defense):
Explosion as part of Operation Fishbowl Bluegill. A 400 kiloton nuclear bomb was detonated in the atmosphere 50 kilometers over the Pacific Ocean in October 1962. (U.S. Department of Defense):
Test of Yeso as part of Operation Dominic, 1962. (U.S. Department of Defense):
Crater from the explosion of a 100-kiloton bomb in the desert on July 6, 1962. It was lifted into the air 12 million tons of earth... The crater is 100 meters deep and 390 meters in diameter. (Photo by Nevada Site Office):
Photo 1. 1971. Nuclear explosion at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia. (AP Photo):
Photo 2.1971. Nuclear explosion at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia. (AP Photo):
Upshot-Knothole Grable Test conducted by the US military in Nevada on May 25, 1953. 280 nuclear shells were fired in the desert at a distance of 10 kilometers using the M65 Atomic Cannon. (U.S. Department of Defense):
House from the "City of Survival", located at a distance of 2,280 meters from a 29-kiloton nuclear explosion. He remained unchanged. The “city of survival” consisted of houses, office buildings, power supply systems, and communication facilities. The name of the nuclear test - Apple II, was carried out on May 5, 1955. (U.S. Department of Defense):
It is known from the physics course that the nucleons in the nucleus - protons and neutrons - are held together by strong interactions. It significantly exceeds the forces of Coulomb repulsion, so the nucleus as a whole is stable. In the 20th century, the great scientist Albert Einstein discovered that the mass of individual nucleons is somewhat greater than their mass in a bound state (when they form a nucleus). Where does some of the mass go? It turns out that it transforms into the binding energy of nucleons and thanks to it nuclei, atoms and molecules can exist.
Most of the known nuclei are stable, but there are also radioactive ones. They emit energy continuously, as they are subject to radioactive decay. The cores of such chemical elements unsafe for humans, but they do not emit energy capable of destroying entire cities.
Colossal energy appears as a result of a nuclear chain reaction. The isotope of uranium-235, as well as plutonium, are used as nuclear fuel in an atomic bomb. When one neutron enters the nucleus, it begins to divide. A neutron, being a particle without an electric charge, can easily penetrate into the structure of the nucleus, bypassing the action of the forces of electrostatic interaction. As a result, it will begin to stretch. The strong interaction between nucleons will begin to weaken, while the Coulomb forces will remain the same. The uranium-235 nucleus will split into two (rarely three) fragments. Two additional neutrons will appear, which can then enter into a similar reaction. Therefore, it is called chain: what causes the fission reaction (neutron) is its product.
As a result of the nuclear reaction, energy is released, which bound the nucleons in the mother nucleus of uranium-235 (binding energy). This reaction underlies the operation of nuclear reactors and explosions. For its implementation, one condition must be met: the mass of the fuel must be subcritical. At the moment of combining plutonium with uranium-235, an explosion occurs.
Nuclear explosion
After the collision of plutonium and uranium nuclei, a powerful shock wave is formed, affecting all living things within a radius of about 1 km. The fireball that appeared at the explosion site gradually expands to 150 meters. Its temperature drops to 8 thousand Kelvin when the shock wave travels far enough. The heated air carries radioactive dust over great distances. A nuclear explosion is accompanied by powerful electromagnetic radiation.
"I became Death, the destroyer of worlds." Robert Oppenheimer
General Thomas Farrell: “The effect that the explosion had on me was magnificent, amazing, and at the same time terrifying. Humanity has never created a phenomenon of such incredible and terrifying power. "
The brilliant physicist Robert Oppenheimer, aka "the father of the atomic bomb", was born in New York in 1903 into a family of wealthy and educated Jews. During World War II, he led the development of American nuclear scientists to create the first atomic bomb in the history of mankind.
Challenge Name: Trinity
Date: July 16, 1945
Location: Proving Ground in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
This was the test of the world's first atomic bomb. A giant violet-green-orange fireball shot up into the sky over an area 1.6 kilometers in diameter. The earth shuddered from the explosion, a white column of smoke rose to the sky and began to gradually expand, taking on a frightening mushroom shape at an altitude of about 11 kilometers. The first nuclear explosion hit the military and scientists. Robert Oppenheimer recalled lines from the Indian epic poem Bhagavad Gita: “I will become Death, destroyer of worlds”.
Challenge Name: Baker
Date: July 24, 1946
Location: Bikini Atoll Lagoon
Explosion type: Underwater, depth 27.5 meters
Power: 23 kilotons.
The purpose of the tests was to study the impact of nuclear weapons on naval vessels and their personnel. 71 ships were turned into floating targets. This was the 5th nuclear test.
The bomb was placed in a waterproof case and launched from the LSM-60 vessel. 8 target ships were sunk, among them: LSM-60, Saratoga, Nagato, Arkansas, Pilotfish, Apogon submarines, ARDC-13 dry dock, YO-160 barge. Eight more ships were badly damaged. The explosion lifted several million tons of water into the air.
Challenge Name: Castle Bravo
Date: March 1, 1954
Location: Bikini Atoll
Explosion type: on the surface
Power: 15 megatons.
Explosion of a hydrogen bomb. Castle Bravo was the most powerful test ever conducted by the United States. The power of the explosion turned out to be much higher than the initial forecasts of 4-6 megatons. The crater from the explosion turned out to be 2 km in diameter and 75 m deep. In 1 minute, the mushroom cloud reached a height of 15 km. 8 minutes after the explosion, the mushroom reached a maximum size of 20 km in diameter. Castle Bravo test caused the largest radioactive contamination of territories in the United States and exposure of local residents.
Challenge Name: Castle Romeo
Date: March 26, 1954
Location: On a barge in Bravo Crater, Bikini Atoll
Explosion type: on the surface
Power: 11 megatons.
The power of the explosion turned out to be 3 times higher than the initial forecasts. Romeo was the first test carried out on a barge. The fact is that such nuclear explosions left large craters in the atoll, and the test program would destroy all the islands.
Test name: AZTEC
Date: April 27, 1962
Place: Christmas Island
Power: 410 kilotons.
These tests were carried out from 1962 to 1963 in the United States.
Challenge Name: Chama
Date: October 18, 1962
Location: Johnston Island
Power: 1.59 megatons
Part of the Dominic project is a series of nuclear weapons tests consisting of 105 explosions.
Challenge name: Truckee
Date: June 9, 1962
Place: Christmas Island
Power: more than 210 kilotons
Part of the Dominic project is a series of nuclear weapons tests consisting of 105 explosions.
Challenge Name: Dog
Date: 1951
Challenge Name: Annie
Date: March 17, 1953
Location: Nevada Nuclear Test Site
Power: 16 kilotons
Challenge name: "Unicorn" (FR. Licorne)
Date: July 3, 1970
Location: atoll in French Polynesia
Power: 914 kilotons
The largest thermonuclear explosion in France.
"Unicorn".
"Unicorn".
"Unicorn".
Challenge Name: Oak
Date: June 28, 1958
Power: 8.9 megatons
Challenge Name: Mike
Date: October 31, 1952
Location: Elugelab Island ("Flora"), Eneveith Atoll
Power: 10.4 megatons
The device detonated in Mike's test and called the "sausage" was the first true megaton-class "hydrogen" bomb. The mushroom cloud reached a height of 41 km with a diameter of 96 km. Mike's power was greater than the power of all the bombs dropped in the Second world war.
Challenge Name: Grable
Date: May 25, 1953
Location: Nevada Nuclear Test Site
Power: 15 kilotons
As part of Operation Upshot Nothol, a series of 11 nuclear explosions by the United States in 1953.
Challenge Name: George
Date: 1951
Location: Nevada Nuclear Test Site
Challenge Name: Priscilla
Date: 1957
Location: Nevada Nuclear Test Site
Power: 37 kilotons
As part of a series of tests "Plumbbob" in May - October 1957.
Another photograph of the Castle Romeo nuclear explosion, which we wrote about above:
Copies of the first atomic bombs "Little Boy" with a charge mass of 16 kilotons and "Fat Man" with a charge mass of 21 kilotons. It was the "Kid" that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the "Fat Man" on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945:
Challenge Name: Umbrella
Date: June 8, 1958
Location: Enewetok Lagoon in the Pacific Ocean
Power: 8 kilotons
An underwater nuclear explosion was carried out during Operation Hardtack. Decommissioned ships were used as targets.
Test Name: Seminole
Date: June 6, 1956
Location: Enewetok Lagoon in the Pacific Ocean
Power: 13.7 kilotons
Challenge Name: YESO
Date: June 10, 1962
Place: Christmas Island
Power: 3 megatons
Challenge Name: Rhéa
Date: June 14, 1971
Location: French Polynesia
Power: 1 megaton
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima (left, atomic bomb "Malysh", August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (right, atomic bomb "Fat Man", August 9, 1945) are the only example of the military use of nuclear weapons in the history of mankind. The total death toll ranged from 90 to 166 thousand people in Hiroshima and from 60 to 80 thousand people in Nagasaki.
Challenge Name: Annie
Date: March 17, 1953
Location: Nevada Nuclear Test Site
Power: 16 kilotons
As part of Operation Upshot-Nothol, a series of 11 nuclear explosions by the United States in 1953. A series of images showing the destruction of a house 1 km away from the explosion:
AN602 (aka "Tsar Bomba" and "Kuz'kina Mother" - a thermonuclear aerial bomb developed in the USSR in 1954-1961 by a group of nuclear physicists under the leadership of Academician IV Kurchatov. The most powerful explosive device in the history of mankind. various sources had a capacity from 57 to 58.6 megatons:
Test name: Tsar Bomba
Date: October 30, 1961
Location: polygon Novaya Zemlya
Power: more than 50 megatons
(Photo from the Minatom archive):
The site at the Alamogordo, New Mexico test site, where the world's first Trinity atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945.
It is one of the most amazing, mysterious and scary processes. The principle of operation of nuclear weapons is based on chain reaction... This is a process, the very course of which initiates its continuation. The principle of operation of the hydrogen bomb is based on fusion.
Atomic bombThe nuclei of some isotopes of radioactive elements (plutonium, californium, uranium and others) are capable of decay, while capturing a neutron. After that, two or three more neutrons are released. The destruction of the nucleus of one atom under ideal conditions can lead to the decay of two or three more, which, in turn, can initiate other atoms. Etc. An avalanche-like process of destruction of an increasing number of nuclei takes place with the release of a huge amount of energy of breaking atomic bonds. In an explosion, huge energies are released in an ultra-short period of time. This happens at one point. That is why the explosion of an atomic bomb is so powerful and destructive.
To initiate the onset of a chain reaction, it is necessary that the amount of radioactive substance exceeds the critical mass. Obviously, you need to take several parts of uranium or plutonium and combine into one whole. However, to cause an atomic bomb to explode, this is not enough, because the reaction will stop before enough energy is released, or the process will proceed slowly. In order to achieve success, it is necessary not only to exceed the critical mass of a substance, but to do it in an extremely short period of time. It is best to use several. This is achieved through the use of others. Moreover, they alternate between fast and slow explosives.
The first nuclear test was carried out in July 1945 in the United States near the town of Almogordo. In August of the same year, the Americans used these weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The explosion of the atomic bomb in the city led to terrible destruction and death of most of the population. In the USSR, atomic weapons were created and tested in 1949.
H-bomb
It is a weapon with very high destructive power. The principle of its action is based on which is the synthesis of heavy helium nuclei from lighter hydrogen atoms. At the same time, a very large amount of energy is released. This reaction is similar to the processes that take place in the Sun and other stars. Fusion is easiest with the use of isotopes of hydrogen (tritium, deuterium) and lithium.
The Americans tested the first hydrogen warhead in 1952. In the modern sense, this device can hardly be called a bomb. It was a three-story building filled with liquid deuterium. The first explosion of a hydrogen bomb in the USSR was made six months later. The Soviet thermonuclear ammunition RDS-6 was detonated in August 1953 near Semipalatinsk. The largest hydrogen bomb with a capacity of 50 megatons (Tsar Bomba) was tested by the USSR in 1961. The wave after the explosion of the munition circled the planet three times.
2000 nuclear explosions
The creator of the atomic bomb Robert Oppenheimer said on the day of the first test of his brainchild: “If hundreds of thousands of suns rose in the sky at once, their light could be compared with the radiance emanating from the Supreme Lord ... I am Death, the great destroyer of worlds, bringing death to all living things ". These words were a quote from the Bhagavad Gita, which the American physicist read in the original.
Photographers from Lookout Mountain stand waist-deep in the dust raised by the shock wave after the nuclear explosion (photo of 1953).
Challenge Name: Umbrella
Date: June 8, 1958
Power: 8 kilotons
An underwater nuclear explosion was carried out during Operation Hardtack. Decommissioned ships were used as targets.
Test name: Chama (within the Dominic project)
Date: October 18, 1962
Location: Johnston Island
Power: 1.59 megatons
Challenge Name: Oak
Date: June 28, 1958
Location: Enewetok Lagoon in the Pacific Ocean
Power: 8.9 megatons
Upshot Nothole Project, Annie Test. Date: March 17, 1953; project: Upshot-Nothol; test: Annie; Location: Nothole, Nevada Proving Ground, Sector 4; power: 16 kt. (Photo: Wikicommons)
Challenge Name: Castle Bravo
Date: March 1, 1954
Location: Bikini Atoll
Explosion type: on the surface
Power: 15 megatons
Castle Bravo's hydrogen bomb was the most powerful test ever conducted by the United States. The power of the explosion turned out to be much higher than the initial forecasts of 4-6 megatons.
Challenge Name: Castle Romeo
Date: March 26, 1954
Location: On a barge in Bravo Crater, Bikini Atoll
Explosion type: on the surface
Power: 11 megatons
The power of the explosion turned out to be 3 times higher than the initial forecasts. Romeo was the first test carried out on a barge.
Dominic Project, Aztec Challenge
Test Name: Priscilla (as part of the Plumbbob Test Series)
Date: 1957
Power: 37 kilotons
This is exactly what the process of releasing a huge amount of radiant and thermal energy in an atomic explosion in the air over the desert looks like. Here you can still see military equipment, which in a moment will be destroyed by a shock wave, imprinted in the form of a crown, surrounding the epicenter of the explosion. You can see how the shock wave was reflected from the earth's surface and is about to merge with the fireball.
Test Name: Grable (as part of Operation Upshot Nothole)
Date: May 25, 1953
Location: Nevada Nuclear Test Site
Power: 15 kilotons
At a test site in the Nevada desert, photographers of the Lookout Mountain Center in 1953 took a photograph of an unusual phenomenon (a ring of fire in a nuclear mushroom after the explosion of a projectile from a nuclear cannon), the nature of which has long occupied the minds of scientists.
Project "Upshot-Nothol", test "Grable". As part of this test, an atomic bomb with a capacity of 15 kilotons was detonated, launched by a 280-mm atomic cannon. The test took place on May 25, 1953 at the Nevada test site. (Photo: National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office)
A mushroom cloud formed as a result of the atomic explosion of Project Dominic's Truck test.
Project "Buster", test "Dog".
Project "Dominic", test "Yeso". Test: Yeso; date: June 10, 1962; project: Dominik; location: 32 km south of Christmas Island; test type: B-52, atmospheric, height - 2.5 m; power: 3.0 mt; charge type: atomic. (Wikicommons)
Challenge Name: YESO
Date: June 10, 1962
Place: Christmas Island
Power: 3 megatons
Test "Licorn" in French Polynesia. Image # 1. (Pierre J./French Army)
Challenge name: "Unicorn" (FR. Licorne)
Date: July 3, 1970
Location: atoll in French Polynesia
Power: 914 kilotons
Test "Licorn" in French Polynesia. Image number 2. (Photo: Pierre J./French Army)
Test "Licorn" in French Polynesia. Image number 3. (Photo: Pierre J./French Army)
In order to get good shots, entire teams of photographers often work on test sites. In the photo: a nuclear test explosion in the Nevada desert. On the right are rocket trails, which scientists use to determine the characteristics of the shock wave.
Test "Licorn" in French Polynesia. Image number 4. (Photo: Pierre J./French Army)
Castle Project, Romeo Challenge. (Photo: zvis.com)
Project Hardteck, Umbrella test. Test: Umbrella; date: June 8, 1958; project: Hardtek I; place: lagoon of Enewetok Atoll; test type: underwater, depth 45 m; power: 8kt; charge type: atomic.
Project Redwing, Seminole Test. (Photo: Nuclear Weapons Archive)
Test "Riya". Atmospheric test of the atomic bomb in French Polynesia in August 1971. As part of this test, which took place on August 14, 1971, a thermonuclear warhead, codenamed Riya, with a yield of 1000 kt, was detonated. The explosion took place on the territory of the Mururoa Atoll. This picture was taken from a distance of 60 km from the zero mark. Photo: Pierre J.
A mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right). In the final stages of World War II, the United States launched 2 atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first explosion occurred on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. This was the only time that nuclear weapons were used for military purposes. By order of President Truman, on August 6, 1945, the US Army dropped the "Kid" nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, and on August 9, the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki followed. Between 90,000 and 166,000 people died in Hiroshima within 2-4 months after nuclear explosions, and between 60,000 and 80,000 in Nagasaki. (Photo: Wikicommons)
Upshot-Nothol project. Proving ground in Nevada, March 17, 1953. The blast wave completely destroyed Building No. 1, located at a distance of 1.05 km from the zero mark. The time difference between the first and second pictures is 21/3 seconds. The camera was placed in a protective case with a wall thickness of 5 cm. The only light source in this case was a nuclear flash. (Photo: National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office)
Project Ranger, 1951 The name of the trial is unknown. (Photo: National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office)
Test "Trinity".
Trinity was the code name for the first nuclear test. This test was conducted by the United States Army on July 16, 1945, in an area approximately 56 kilometers southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, at the White Sands Missile Range. For the test, an implosive-type plutonium bomb, nicknamed "The Little Thing", was used. After detonation, an explosion thundered with a power equivalent to 20 kilotons of TNT. The date of this test is considered the beginning of the atomic era. (Photo: Wikicommons)
Challenge Name: Mike
Date: October 31, 1952
Location: Elugelab Island ("Flora"), Eneveith Atoll
Power: 10.4 megatons
The device detonated in Mike's test and called the "sausage" was the first true megaton-class "hydrogen" bomb. The mushroom cloud reached a height of 41 km with a diameter of 96 km.
AN602 (aka "Tsar Bomba", aka "Kuz'kina Mother") is a thermonuclear aviation bomb developed in the USSR in 1954-1961. by a group of nuclear physicists under the leadership of Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences I. V. Kurchatov. The most powerful explosive device in the history of mankind. According to various sources, it had from 57 to 58.6 megatons of TNT equivalent. The bomb tests took place on October 30, 1961. (Wikimedia)
Explosion of "MET", carried out as part of Operation Tipot. It is noteworthy that the MET explosion was comparable in power to the Fat Man plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki. April 15, 1955, 22 kt. (Wikimedia)
One of the most powerful explosions of a thermonuclear hydrogen bomb on the US account is Operation Castle Bravo. The charge capacity was 10 megatons. The explosion took place on March 1, 1954 in Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands. (Wikimedia)
Operation Castle Romeo is one of the most powerful thermonuclear bombs ever produced by the United States. Bikini Atoll, March 27, 1954, 11 megatons. (Wikimedia)
The Baker explosion shows a white surface of water disturbed by an air blast and the top of a hollow column of spray that formed a hemispherical Wilson cloud. In the background is the shore of Bikini Atoll, July 1946. (Wikimedia)
The explosion of the American thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb "Mike" with a capacity of 10.4 megatons. November 1, 1952. (Wikimedia)
Operation Greenhouse is the fifth series of American nuclear tests and the second in 1951. During the operation, nuclear warhead designs were tested using thermonuclear fusion to increase energy output. In addition, the impact of the explosion on structures, including residential buildings, factory buildings and bunkers, was investigated. The operation was carried out at the Pacific nuclear test site. All devices were detonated on high metal towers simulating an air explosion. Explosion "George", 225 kilotons, May 9, 1951. (Wikimedia)
A mushroom-like cloud, which has a water column instead of a dusty leg. A hole is visible on the right of the pillar: the battleship "Arkansas" covered the spray. Test "Baker", charge capacity - 23 kilotons in TNT equivalent, July 25, 1946. (Wikimedia)
200 meter cloud over Frenchman Flat after MET explosion during Operation Tipot, April 15, 1955, 22 kt. This projectile had a rare uranium-233 core. (Wikimedia)
The crater was formed when a 100 kiloton blast wave was blown under 635 feet of desert on July 6, 1962, displacing 12 million tons of earth. 
Time: 0s. Distance: 0m. Nuclear detonator explosion initiation.
Time: 0.0000001c. Distance: 0m Temperature: up to 100 million ° C. The beginning and course of nuclear and thermonuclear reactions in a charge. A nuclear detonator with its explosion creates conditions for the start of thermonuclear reactions: the zone of thermonuclear combustion passes by a shock wave in the charge substance at a speed of about 5000 km / s (106 - 107 m / s) About 90% of the neutrons released during the reactions are absorbed by the bomb substance, the remaining 10% fly out out.
Time:< 10−7c. Расстояние: 2м Temperature: 30 million ° C. The end of the reaction, the beginning of the scattering of the bomb. The bomb immediately disappears from sight and in its place appears a bright luminous sphere (fireball), masking the expansion of the charge. The growth rate of the sphere in the first meters is close to the speed of light. The density of matter here in 0.01 sec falls to 1% of the density of the surrounding air; the temperature drops to 7-8 thousand ° C in 2.6 seconds, holds for ~ 5 seconds and further decreases with the rise of the fiery sphere; the pressure drops after 2-3 seconds to slightly below atmospheric.
Time: 1.1x10-7s. Distance: 10m Temperature: 6 million ° C. The expansion of the visible sphere to ~ 10 m occurs due to the glow of ionized air under the X-ray radiation of nuclear reactions, and then through radiation diffusion of the heated air itself. The energy of the radiation quanta leaving the thermonuclear charge is such that their free path before being captured by air particles is of the order of 10 m and is initially comparable to the size of a sphere; photons quickly run around the entire sphere, averaging its temperature and fly out of it at the speed of light, ionizing more and more layers of air, hence the same temperature and near-light growth rate. Further, from capture to capture, photons lose energy and their path length decreases, the growth of the sphere slows down.
Time: 1.4x10-7s. Distance: 16m Temperature: 4 million ° C. In general, from 10-7 to 0.08 seconds, the 1st phase of the sphere luminescence occurs with a rapid drop in temperature and the output of ~ 1% of radiation energy, mostly in the form of UV rays and the brightest light radiation, which can damage the vision of a distant observer without formation skin burns. The illumination of the earth's surface at these moments at distances of up to tens of kilometers can be a hundred or more times greater than the sun.
Time: 1.7x10-7s. Distance: 21m Temperature: 3 million ° C. Bomb vapors in the form of clubs, dense clumps and jets of plasma, like a piston, squeeze the air in front of themselves and form a shock wave inside the sphere - an internal shock that differs from an ordinary shock wave in non-adiabatic, almost isothermal properties and at the same pressures several times higher density: the air directly radiates most of the energy through a sphere while transparent to emissions.
At the first tens of meters, the surrounding objects, before the fire sphere raids on them, due to its too high speed, do not have time to react in any way - they practically do not even heat up, and once inside the sphere under the radiation flux they evaporate instantly.
Temperature: 2 million ° C. The speed is 1000 km / s. With an increase in the sphere and a drop in temperature, the energy and density of the photon flux decrease and their range (on the order of a meter) is no longer enough for near-light velocities of the expansion of the fire front. The heated volume of air began to expand and a stream of its particles was formed from the center of the explosion. The heat wave slows down when the air is still at the boundary of the sphere. The expanding heated air inside the sphere collides with motionless near its boundary and somewhere starting from 36-37 m a wave of increasing density appears - a future external air shock wave; before that, the wave did not have time to appear due to the enormous growth rate of the light sphere.
Time: 0.000001s. Distance: 34m Temperature: 2 million ° C. The internal jump and the bomb vapor are located in a layer of 8-12 m from the explosion site, the pressure peak is up to 17,000 MPa at a distance of 10.5 m, the density is ~ 4 times higher than the air density, the velocity is ~ 100 km / s. Hot air area: pressure at the boundary 2.500 MPa, inside the area up to 5000 MPa, particle velocity up to 16 km / s. The substance of the vapor of the bomb begins to lag behind the internal. jump as more and more air in it is drawn into motion. Dense bunches and jets maintain their speed.
Time: 0.000034c. Distance: 42m Temperature: 1 million ° C. Conditions at the epicenter of the explosion of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb (400 kt at an altitude of 30 m), in which a crater of about 50 m in diameter and 8 m in depth was formed. A reinforced concrete bunker with walls 2 m thick was located 15 m from the epicenter or 5-6 m from the base of the tower with a charge. To accommodate scientific equipment from above, covered with a large embankment of earth 8 m thick, was destroyed.
Temperature: 600 thousand ° C. From this moment, the nature of the shock wave ceases to depend on the initial conditions of a nuclear explosion and approaches the typical one for a strong explosion in the air, i.e. such wave parameters could be observed in the explosion of a large mass of conventional explosives.
Time: 0.0036s. Distance: 60m Temperature: 600 thousand ° C. The internal jump, having passed the entire isothermal sphere, catches up and merges with the external one, increasing its density and forming the so-called. a strong jump is a single shock front. The density of matter in the sphere drops to 1/3 atmospheric.
Time: 0.014s. Distance: 110m Temperature: 400 thousand ° C. A similar shock wave at the epicenter of the explosion of the first Soviet atomic bomb with a power of 22 kt at an altitude of 30 m generated a seismic shear that destroyed the imitation of metro tunnels with different types attachments at depths of 10 and 20 m 30 m, animals in tunnels at depths of 10, 20 and 30 m died. An inconspicuous plate-shaped depression about 100 m in diameter appeared on the surface. Similar conditions were at the epicenter of the 21-kt Trinity explosion at a height of 30 m, a crater 80 m in diameter and 2 m deep was formed.
Time: 0.004s. Distance: 135m
Temperature: 300 thousand ° C. Maximum height an air explosion of 1 Mt to form a noticeable crater in the ground. The front of the shock wave is bent by the blows of bunches of bomb vapors:
Time: 0.007s. Distance: 190m Temperature: 200 thousand ° C. On a smooth and shiny front, beats. waves form large blisters and bright spots (the sphere seems to be boiling). The density of matter in an isothermal sphere with a diameter of ~ 150 m falls below 10% atmospheric.
Non-massive objects evaporate several meters before the arrival of fire. spheres ("Rope Tricks"); the human body from the side of the explosion will have time to charcoal, and it will completely evaporate already with the arrival of the shock wave.
Time: 0.015s. Distance: 250m Temperature: 170 thousand ° C. The shock wave severely destroys the rocks. The speed of the shock wave is higher than the speed of sound in metal: theoretical ultimate strength of the entrance door to the shelter; the tank is flattened and burned.
Time: 0.028s. Distance: 320m Temperature: 110 thousand ° C. A person is dispersed by a stream of plasma (the speed of the shock wave = the speed of sound in the bones, the body collapses into dust and immediately burns up). Complete destruction of the toughest ground structures.
Time: 0.073s. Distance: 400m Temperature: 80 thousand ° C. Irregularities on the sphere disappear. The density of the substance drops in the center to almost 1%, and at the edge of the isotherms. a sphere with a diameter of ~ 320 m to 2% atmospheric. At this distance, within 1.5 s, heating to 30,000 ° C and a drop to 7000 ° C, ~ 5 s, holding at ~ 6.500 ° C and a decrease in temperature in 10-20 s as you leave fireball up.
Time: 0.079s. Distance: 435m Temperature: 110 thousand ° C. Complete destruction of highways with asphalt and concrete pavement Temperature minimum of the shock wave radiation, the end of the 1st phase of the glow. A metro-type shelter, lined with cast-iron tubing and monolithic reinforced concrete and buried 18 m, is calculated to withstand an explosion (40 kt) at a height of 30 m at a minimum distance of 150 m without destruction (shock wave pressure of about 5 MPa), 38 kt RDS- 2 at a distance of 235 m (pressure ~ 1.5 MPa), received minor deformations, damage. At temperatures in the compression front below 80 thousand ° C, new NO2 molecules no longer appear, the nitrogen dioxide layer gradually disappears and ceases to screen the internal radiation. The shock sphere gradually becomes transparent, and through it, as through a darkened glass, clouds of bomb vapor and an isothermal sphere are visible for some time; in general, the fiery sphere is similar to fireworks. Then, as the transparency increases, the intensity of the radiation increases and the details, as it were, of the newly flaring up sphere, become invisible. The process resembles the end of the era of recombination and the birth of light in the Universe several hundred thousand years after the Big Bang.
Time: 0.1s. Distance: 530m Temperature: 70 thousand ° C. The separation and advance of the shock wave front from the boundary of the fiery sphere, its growth rate noticeably decreases. The second phase of luminescence begins, less intense, but two orders of magnitude longer with the release of 99% of the explosion radiation energy, mainly in the visible and IR spectrum. At the first hundreds of meters, a person does not have time to see the explosion and dies without suffering (the time of a person's visual reaction is 0.1 - 0.3 s, the reaction time to a burn is 0.15 - 0.2 s).
Time: 0.15s. Distance: 580m Temperature: 65 thousand ° C. Radiation ~ 100,000 Gy. From a person, charred fragments of bones remain (the speed of a shock wave is of the order of the speed of sound in soft tissues: a hydrodynamic shock that destroys cells and tissues passes through the body).
Time: 0.25s. Distance: 630m Temperature: 50 thousand ° C. Penetrating radiation ~ 40,000 Gy. The person turns into charred wreckage: the shock wave causes traumatic amputations, which came up after a fraction of a second. a sphere of fire charred the remains. Complete destruction of the tank. Complete destruction of underground cable lines, water pipelines, gas pipelines, sewerage systems, inspection wells. Destruction of underground reinforced concrete pipes with a diameter of 1.5 m, with a wall thickness of 0.2 m. Destruction of the arched concrete dam of the hydroelectric power station. Severe destruction of permanent reinforced concrete forts. Minor damage to underground metro structures.
Time: 0.4s. Distance: 800m Temperature: 40 thousand ° C. Heating objects up to 3000 ° C. Penetrating radiation ~ 20,000 Gy. Complete destruction of all protective structures of civil defense (shelters) destruction of protective devices of entrances to the metro. Destruction of the gravitational concrete dam of the hydroelectric power station pillboxes become unusable at a distance of 250 m.
Time: 0.73s. Distance: 1200m Temperature: 17 thousand ° C. Radiation ~ 5000 Gy. At an explosion height of 1200 m, the heating of the surface air in the epicenter before the arrival of beats. waves up to 900 ° C. Human - 100% death from the action of the shock wave. Destruction of shelters designed for 200 kPa (type A-III or class 3). Complete destruction of prefabricated reinforced concrete bunkers at a distance of 500 m under the conditions of a ground explosion. Complete destruction railway tracks... The maximum brightness of the second phase of the sphere's glow by this time it has allocated ~ 20% of the light energy
Time: 1.4s. Distance: 1600m Temperature: 12 thousand ° C. Heating objects up to 200 ° C. Radiation 500 Gy. Numerous burns of 3-4 degrees up to 60-90% of the body surface, severe radiation injury, combined with other injuries, mortality immediately or up to 100% on the first day. The tank is thrown ~ 10 m and damaged. Full collapse of metal and reinforced concrete bridges with a span of 30 - 50 m.
Time: 1.6s. Distance: 1750m Temperature: 10 thousand ° C. Radiation approx. 70 gr. The tank's crew dies within 2-3 weeks from extremely severe radiation sickness. Complete destruction of concrete, reinforced concrete monolithic (low-rise) and earthquake-resistant buildings of 0.2 MPa, built-in and detached shelters, designed for 100 kPa (type A-IV or class 4), shelters in the basements of high-rise buildings.
Time: 1.9s. Distance: 1900m Temperature: 9 thousand ° C Dangerous damage to a person by a shock wave and rejection up to 300 m with an initial speed of up to 400 km / h, of which 100-150 m (0.3-0.5 path) free flight, and the rest of the distance - numerous ricochets about the ground. Radiation of about 50 Gy is a fulminant form of radiation sickness [, 100% mortality within 6-9 days. Destruction of built-in shelters rated at 50 kPa. Severe destruction of earthquake-resistant buildings. Pressure 0.12 MPa and higher - the entire urban development is dense and discharged turns into solid rubble (separate rubble merge into one solid), the height of the rubble can be 3-4 m. The fire sphere at this time reaches its maximum size (D ~ 2 km), crushed from below by a shock wave reflected from the ground and begins to rise; the isothermal sphere collapses in it, forming a fast ascending flow at the epicenter - the future leg of the fungus.
Time: 2.6s. Distance: 2200m Temperature: 7.5 thousand ° C. Severe damage to a person by a shock wave. Radiation ~ 10 Gy - extremely severe acute radiation sickness, according to the combination of injuries, 100% mortality within 1-2 weeks. Safe stay in a tank, in a fortified basement with reinforced reinforced concrete floors and in most shelters G. O. Destruction of trucks. 0.1 MPa is the design pressure of the shock wave for the design of structures and protective devices for underground structures of shallow metro lines.
Time: 3.8s. Distance: 2800m Temperature: 7.5 thousand ° C. Radiation 1 Gy - in peaceful conditions and timely treatment, non-hazardous radiation injury, but with the accompanying catastrophe of unsanitary conditions and severe physical and psychological stress, lack of medical care, food and normal rest, up to half of the victims die only from radiation and concomitant diseases, and by the amount of damage ( plus injuries and burns) much more. Pressure less than 0.1 MPa - urban areas with dense buildings turn into solid heaps. Complete destruction of basements without reinforcement of structures 0.075 MPa. The average destruction of earthquake-resistant buildings is 0.08-0.12 MPa. Severe damage to prefabricated reinforced concrete bunkers. Detonation of pyrotechnics.
Time: 6c. Distance: 3600m Temperature: 4.5 thousand ° C. Average damage to a person by a shock wave. Radiation ~ 0.05 Gy - the dose is harmless. People and objects leave "shadows" on the asphalt. Complete destruction of administrative multi-storey frame (office) buildings (0.05-0.06 MPa), shelters of the simplest type; strong and complete destruction of massive industrial buildings... Almost all urban buildings were destroyed with the formation of local rubble (one house - one rubble). Complete destruction passenger cars, complete destruction of the forest. An electromagnetic pulse of ~ 3 kV / m affects insensitive electrical appliances. Destruction is similar to an earthquake 10 points. The sphere passed into a fiery dome, like a bubble floating upwards, dragging a column of smoke and dust from the surface of the earth: a characteristic explosive mushroom grows with an initial vertical speed of up to 500 km / h. The wind speed near the surface to the epicenter is ~ 100 km / h.
Time: 10c. Distance: 6400m Temperature: 2 thousand ° C. The end of the effective time of the second glow phase, ~ 80% of the total energy of the light radiation was released. The remaining 20% light up harmlessly for about a minute with a continuous decrease in intensity, gradually disappearing in the clouds of the cloud. Destruction of shelters of the simplest type (0.035-0.05 MPa). In the first kilometers, a person will not hear the roar of an explosion due to hearing damage from a shock wave. Rejection of a person by a shock wave of ~ 20 m with an initial speed of ~ 30 km / h. Complete destruction of multi-storey brick houses, panel houses, severe destruction of warehouses, average destruction of frame office buildings. Destruction is similar to a magnitude 8 earthquake. Safe in almost any basement.
The glow of the fiery dome ceases to be dangerous, it turns into a fiery cloud, growing in volume with a rise; incandescent gases in the cloud begin to rotate in a toroidal vortex; hot explosion products are localized in the upper part of the cloud. The flow of dusty air in the column moves twice as fast as the rise of the "mushroom", overtakes the cloud, passes through, diverges and, as it were, winds around it, as if on a ring-shaped coil.
Time: 15c. Distance: 7500m... Light damage to a person by a shock wave. Third degree burns to exposed parts of the body. Complete destruction wooden houses, severe destruction of brick multi-storey buildings 0.02-0.03 MPa, average destruction of brick warehouses, multi-storey reinforced concrete, panel houses; weak destruction of administrative buildings 0.02-0.03 MPa, massive industrial structures. Igniting cars. The destruction is similar to an earthquake of 6 points, a hurricane of 12 points. up to 39 m / s. The "mushroom" has grown up to 3 km above the center of the explosion (the true height of the mushroom is greater by the height of the warhead explosion, by about 1.5 km), it has a "skirt" of condensation of water vapor in the stream warm air fanned out by a cloud into the cold upper atmosphere.
Time: 35c. Distance: 14km. Second degree burns. Paper, dark tarpaulin ignites. A zone of continuous fires, in areas of dense combustible buildings, a fire storm, a tornado is possible (Hiroshima, "Operation Gomorrah"). Weak destruction of panel buildings. Disabling aircraft and missiles. The destruction is similar to an earthquake of 4-5 points, a storm of 9-11 points V = 21 - 28.5 m / s. The "mushroom" has grown to ~ 5 km; the fiery cloud is shining ever fainter.
Time: 1min. Distance: 22km. First degree burns - death is possible in beachwear. Destruction of reinforced glazing. Uprooting large trees. Zone of separate fires. "Mushroom" has risen to 7.5 km cloud ceases to emit light and now has a reddish tint due to nitrogen oxides contained in it, which will sharply stand out among other clouds.
Time: 1.5 min. Distance: 35km... The maximum radius of destruction of unprotected sensitive electrical equipment by an electromagnetic pulse. Almost all the usual ones are broken and part of the reinforced glass in the windows is actually a frosty winter, plus the possibility of cuts by flying fragments. "Mushroom" climbed to 10 km, ascent speed ~ 220 km / h. Above the tropopause, the cloud develops mainly in width.
Time: 4min. Distance: 85km. The flash looks like a large unnaturally bright Sun near the horizon, it can cause a burn of the retina of the eyes, a rush of heat to the face. The shock wave that came up after 4 minutes can still knock a person down and break individual glass in the windows. "Mushroom" climbed over 16 km, ascent speed ~ 140 km / h
Time: 8min. Distance: 145km. The flash is not visible beyond the horizon, but a strong glow and a fiery cloud are visible. The total height of the "mushroom" is up to 24 km, the cloud is 9 km high and 20-30 km in diameter, with its wide part it "rests" on the tropopause. The mushroom cloud has grown to its maximum size and is observed for about an hour or more, until it blows away by the winds and mixes with ordinary cloudiness. Within 10-20 hours, precipitation with relatively large particles falls out of the cloud, forming a near radioactive trace.
Time: 5.5-13 hours Distance: 300-500 km. The far border of the zone of moderate infection (zone A). The radiation level at the outer border of the zone is 0.08 Gy / h; the total radiation dose is 0.4-4 Gy.
Time: ~ 10 months. The effective time of half the settling of radioactive substances for the lower layers of the tropical stratosphere (up to 21 km), fallout also occurs mainly in mid-latitudes in the same hemisphere where the explosion was made.
Monument to the first test of the Trinity atomic bomb. This monument was erected at the White Sands test site in 1965, 20 years after the Trinity test. The memorial plaque of the monument reads: "At this place on July 16, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb test took place." Another plaque, installed below, indicates that the site has received the status of a National Historic Landmark. (Photo: Wikicommons)
